The Harvest Wind Farm will be located in Huron County’s Oliver and Chandler Townships near Elkton and Pigeon, Mich. The wind farm will consist of 32 Vestas V82 wind turbines, each capable of producing 1.65 megawatts of electricity. The total project capacity will be 52.8 megawatts, enough to produce electricity for more than 15,000 homes.

Wolverine Power Cooperative recently signed an agreement with Harvest Wind Farm to purchase renewable energy from the company’s wind farm under a 20-year power purchase agreement. Wolverine plans to sell energy from this project to its six member-companies and their retail customers throughout Michigan.

David A. Drescher, vice president, John Deere Wind Energy, says, “We are very pleased to be part of this project — the first of its kind in the state of Michigan. We’ve been excited about the potential for wind power for some time now and we look forward to working with the folks at Wolverine Power Cooperative on the project.”

Construction is currently underway. As many as 80 jobs will be created during construction of this project, and several permanent employees will be needed to operate and maintain the wind farm after construction is completed.

“We are thrilled to be involved with John Deere Wind Energy and the Harvest Wind Farm project,” says Eric D. Baker, president and CEO of Wolverine. “Wolverine strongly supports the development of clean, renewable energy in Michigan and we have made a long-term financial commitment to this project.”

John Deere worked closely with Michigan Wind, LLC (a Big Rapids, Michigan-based firm), local landowners and township officials to develop the project. Commercial operation of the Harvest Wind Farm is planned for early 2008.